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Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Fairy Garden Party

For a summer store event, we decided it would be fun to throw a garden party with fairies and gnomes. Fairy gardens have gained a lot of popularity lately, so we wanted to come up with a unique way to bring kids together to create their own. Rachel (LOC's Event Coordinator) and I started pulling fun supplies, and decided to base the inspiration off of the gorgeous The House that Lars Built floral wrapping paper we had just gotten in. We wanted it to be a fun, magical morning for kids to enjoy. Brainstorming and product sourcing began and we love how it all came together!

We pulled bright floral paper plates and paper tea cups to coordinate with the paper (which we laid on the tables), and some gold floral napkins as a more neutral to match. On the back of each chair, we added a pair of sparkly fairy wings we found at The Dollar Tree. Perfect party favor for a fairy party (if boys signed up, we were planning on having gnome hats for them to wear - an idea if you are having boys and girls to your garden party). We wanted the party to be whimsical, and bringing that floral paper to life was the ticket. For the backdrop, Rachel cut out paper flowers inspired by the Lars design. We then hung them up on turf to pull in the garden feel of the event. It was definitely a statement piece and brought the magical fairy world to life in our party space!

Fairy Garden making was the main activity of our event. Finding affordable fairy garden supplies can be difficult, but done! I had fun sourcing the little trinkets, stickers, toadstools and houses for the girls to use, and their gardens turned out adorable:Buckets - I recommend finding something like these tubs from the Dollar Tree. They are colorful, have handles (so the kids can easily carry them home), and are affordable!Wooden Fairy Houses - I found these small wood birdhouses at Michael's. They have multiple options that are only $1.00. Kids are able to decorate with stickers and gemstones, making them unique for their garden.Mini Fairy Accessories - I found a large set on Amazon that worked well; they have multiple sets, so choose the one with the most accessories you like. I also ordered these adorable toadstools on Amazon.Marbles, Moss Rocks, Butterflies and Stickers - The Dollar Tree is a great source for these! They have lots of options in the floral and craft aisles.Dirt and Flowers - Source from a local flower nursery.Miniature Gnomes - They are actually candles and we sell them at the shop.

To add to their magical, fairy experience, each party guest received a pair of wings (as mentioned above) and a wand. To top off the fairy look, we brought in Just Face It for face painting. Kids made requests and the incredibly talented face painter whipped up everything from flowers, to butterflies to tiaras. We even had some tigers and snakes running around. Highly recommend them if you are local!

Food wise, we worked with some of our favorite local bakers and put together some snacks of our own. The whimsical cupcakes were done by September Moon Cupcakery (those fairy wings!). Wendi, from Sweet Sugarlicious, made the colorful cookie wands that were topped off with gold paint and mini star sprinkles. They both are party favorites of ours and we highly recommend! Rachel showed off her baking skills and made the amazing naked cake for the event and we added fresh flowers and fruit to match the garden theme. She also helped punch out the fun garden shapes in the cheese that we paired with my party snack favorite, butterfly butter crackers (by Pepperidge Farm). We made fruit cups and added fruit loops to ziploc bags that we tied off with pipe cleaners to make butterflies. I also set out the adorable butterfly gummies made by Sugarfina (a line we carry in the shop). Drinks we kept simple with pink lemonade and water.

The event was one of our favorites to date! Everyone seemed to have a good time and they all went home with adorable fairy gardens. If you need a fun party idea, this one seemed to be a hit. Feel free to reach out if you need help with putting together! Thank you to Rachel and Faith (who recently moved to Europe - we miss you!) for helping me pull this off, couldn't have done it without you! Also, thank you to all the moms, dads, godmothers and other guardians that brought their children to the event! We had so much fun celebrating the morning with you.